Monday, May 28, 2012

Book Review ~ The Accidental Bestseller (Spring Reading Thing #8)


Ten years ago Kendall, Mallory, Faye and Tanya were aspiring writers who met at a conference and formed a strong bond and friendship.  Mallory became a best-selling author pumping out book after book, Faye, married to an internationally known televangelist, found her niche in the inspirational fiction market, Tanya in the romance genre.  Kendall, in spite of all her efforts remained an author in the middle of the pack and has been experiencing failing sales.  


When Kendall's career and her personal life starts to unravel and she hits bottom, her four friends rush to her side at her mountain home to try to get her over the hump.  With unwavering support they come with an idea to help her ghost write her next book which is due in a few months.  Coming up with a story of four writers with an enduring friendship (based on their own) each woman puts more of their own personal lives into the story than they care to admit is true, especially when each has secrets they have told and unexpectedly the book hits the Best Seller List.  


I had mixed feelings about this book.   The good stuff was the story of friendship and support.  The insider's look into the world of publishing and novel writing was really, really interesting.   Kendall's reaction to her life falling apart by fixing things in her house was a relatable and at times humorous read.  The secrets they all carried that none knew about the other made for interesting thoughts on how close their friendship really could have been if they could hide those from each other for 10 years.   The mean, evil characters were exactly that.


  There were some things I didn't like about the story.  One, as with any story, I have definite lines that I don't like to cross when it comes to reading love making scenes.  This story crossed it a few times for me, which meant skipped paragraphs.  That is my choice.   And along with that, a story line in the book also really left me feeling uncomfortable.   Without giving anything away,  I will say the resolution of Faye, the televangelist's wife, secret was what bothered me.   While I could see the secret and situation could happen, and the justification and reasoning has been used before, it left me with an unease of how it was wrapped up and of it's believeableness that it would so easily be brushed aside and accepted and promoted as continuing on from a religious leader's wife.   There were comments made by the character, that while it sounds like it would make sense, if one knows the bible in any way, then the comments would immediately be recognized as false and not what God would be behind.  In fact I thought the character was quite bold in making her claims with no biblical backing for them.   It smacked to me of no biblical research being done on the subject therefore making the credibility of Faye's story line wrap up not ring true.   It made for an unsatisfying finish to the book for me.   I also found it a bit unbelievable that the characters would use names so similar to their own for their fictional characters in the book and then reveal their most deepest secrets about their lives.  It seems that at least one of the four of them would have thought through some possible consequences.

1 comment:

Barbara H. said...

It sounded really interesting at first, but I'd have the same concerns you did.